FC Bayern have avoided heavyweights like Manchester City and FC Barcelona but Beşiktaş will be by no means easy opponents for the German record champions. In the group stage the Turkish champions left three strong teams in their wake - RB Leipzig, FC Porto and AS Monaco. “Beşiktaş showed how well they can play in a tough group. It will be a difficult task, but it could have been worse,” thought Niklas Süle after the draw.

Reactions to the draw at a glance

Hasan Salihamidzic: “We know how strong Beşiktaş are. We followed their progress because they were in Leipzig’s group. It’s a difficult draw. We’ll see what happens. There’ll definitely be an exceptional atmosphere over there, but there will be here in Munich as well. We’re looking forward to it. Obviously it’s a disadvantage to play at home first, but we’re good enough and accept it.”

Thomas Müller: “We’re happy with the draw and look forward to the last 16. Obviously we want to go as far as possible. In Munich we definitely don’t want to concede, we need to defend well. In the away leg we’ll need a strong performance. You’ve got to compete in both the games.”

Arjen Robben: “It will be a challenge, I haven’t played against Beşiktaş before. We need to prepare well and be careful. They were in the group with Leipzig and did well. The atmosphere is always good in Turkey, we can adapt to that. First though we have to play them at home and get ourselves into a good position.”

Joshua Kimmich: “I think it’s a good draw. On paper we could have met stronger teams. I look forward to the game. I know from the Leipzig boys there’ll be a great atmosphere over there.”

Niklas Süle: “It’s turned out not so bad that we came second. It’s gone really well. We play the first leg at home. Beşiktaş showed how well they can play in a tough group. It will be a difficult task, but it could have been worse.”

FCBayernNews wrote:Hasan Salihamidzic: “We know how strong Beşiktaş are. We followed their progress because they were in Leipzig’s group. It’s a difficult draw. We’ll see what happens. There’ll definitely be an exceptional atmosphere over there, but there will be here in Munich as well. We’re looking forward to it. Obviously it’s a disadvantage to play at home first, but we’re good enough and accept it.”

FCBayernNews wrote:Hasan Salihamidzic: “We know how strong Beşiktaş are. We followed their progress because they were in Leipzig’s group. It’s a difficult draw. We’ll see what happens. There’ll definitely be an exceptional atmosphere over there, but there will be here in Munich as well. We’re looking forward to it. Obviously it’s a disadvantage to play at home first, but we’re good enough and accept it.”

Doesn't anyone else see a problem with this statement? They only followed Besiktas because they were in Leipzig's group? Wtf! Soon they will start forming ideas about our opponents based on what we write on BayernForum.

FCBayernNews wrote:Hasan Salihamidzic: “We know how strong Beşiktaş are. We followed their progress because they were in Leipzig’s group. It’s a difficult draw. We’ll see what happens. There’ll definitely be an exceptional atmosphere over there, but there will be here in Munich as well. We’re looking forward to it. Obviously it’s a disadvantage to play at home first, but we’re good enough and accept it.”

Doesn't anyone else see a problem with this statement? They only followed Besiktas because they were in Leipzig's group? Wtf! Soon they will start forming ideas about our opponents based on what we write on BayernForum.

Not really. Do you think they follow all the teams in the Champions League? They followed the other teams in their groups, the other bigs as usual and evidently they followed also the teams in the groups of the other german teams (or more likely they follow also all the matches of the other teams of the Bundesliga, including the cups so they have seen Besiktas playing against Leipzig)

Isabella wrote:Not really. Do you think they follow all the teams in the Champions League? They followed the other teams in their groups, the other bigs as usual and evidently they followed also the teams in the groups of the other german teams (or more likely they follow also all the matches of the other teams of the Bundesliga, including the cups so they have seen Besiktas playing against Leipzig)

I would expect the coaching team to. Not the head coach watching all games obviously, but he'd have advisors.

Then again I am a heavy believer in the Pep ideology of video tactics.

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